These happenings began to interest him.
On a fourth mound he heard a fresh cry. He shaded his eyes and saw a man lying on the ground; a negro was beating him.
"What is happening there?" asked Ramses of the boatman.
"Does not my lord see that they are beating a wretched earth-tiller?" answered the boatman, smiling. "He must have done something, so pain is traveling through his bones."
"But who art thou?"
"I?" replied the boatman, proudly. "I am a free fisherman. If I give a certain share of my catch to his holiness, I may sail the Nile from the sea to the cataract. A fisherman is like a fish or a wild goose; but an earth-tiller is like a tree which nourishes lords with its fruit and can never escape but only squeaks when overseers spoil the bark on it."
"Oho! ho! but look there!" cried the fisherman, pleased again. "Hei! father, don't drink up all the water, or there will be a bad harvest."
This humorous exclamation referred to a group of persons who were displaying a very original activity. A number of naked laborers were holding a man by the legs and plunging him head first in the water to his neck, to his breast, and at last to his waist. Near them stood an overseer with a cane; he wore a stained tunic and a wig made of sheepskin.
A little farther on some men held a woman by the arms, while she screamed in a voice which was heaven-piercing.
Beating with a stick was as general in the happy kingdom of the pharaoh as eating and sleeping. They beat children and grown people, earth- tillers, artisans, warriors, officers, and officials. All living persons were caned save only priests and the highest officials there was no one to cane them. Hence the prince looked calmly enough on an earth-worker beaten with a cane; but to plunge a man into water roused his attention.